Younger Actor / Actress Categories to be Combined

[amybrickwallace]

Why not just cut down the number of nominees in each category (and I'm including the Lead and Supporting categories)?

[Contessa Donatella]

I think this is a stupid idea, too.There are ample contenders in the Younger actor/Actress category.  And, some year, if there's not, well, just don't give the award that year!

[Skin]

 

Pretty much this. The Younger Actor and Actress category is interesting because it showed the perspective the Daytime Emmy's had at it's prime, and it shows the culture and elitism of Daytime at it's peak. They were very age focused (ageist?), and the Younger acting categories came precisely because they wanted the kiddies to have their own table, and not have to compete with them.

 

This had a side effect of creating categories that were basically the equivalent of "Veteran Lead Actress/Actor" and making the Supporting Actress/Actor category an intermediate stepping stone for more "mature" actors who aged out of the Younger actor territories. In this the only way you could win an award, was based on tenure/veteran status in the soap community. The Younger Actos categories helped to break-in and socialize new talent to the Daytime community, but there was a threshold blocker in Supporting categories because that's where they thinned out the talent of most of the daytime community. 

 

I think comparing this to the Grammy's is the wrong step though. The Grammy's categorization is awful. They should just use the same template as the Oscars. 

 

 

[Faulkner]

Just noted that the combined category is all female. 
 

 

[David_Vickers]

Idiotic idea!!  Only actresses nominated.  They should before they air, announce Younger Male Actor nominees as well.

[Faulkner]

I never believed, even in the best of times, that younger performers should have separate categories. Let them compete with the grown folks like Anna Paquin, Tatum O’Neal, Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Quvenzhané Wallis did at the Oscars. The truly extraordinary young talents on soaps would unquestionably have shone through. Folks like Jennifer Finnigan and Sarah Brown would have absolutely been competitive with the grown folks, and we’d have fewer headscratchers like Drew Tyler Bell and True O’Brien claiming to be Emmy winners.

[Skin]

 

I don't think this would have worked backed in the early days of the Daytime Emmy's. Younger actors wouldn't even have been pre-nominated because the Emmy's were so seniority focused. They likely would have never been nominated. On the off chance they were no way would the voting bodies have voted for a 10 year old over a well-known much beloved 20 year soap veteran. You can see by viewing all of the performance categories and their nominations. I think in a lot of ways the Younger categories helped younger soap actors and actresses gain credibility and visibility to compete in the other fields once they matured out of the category. Soaps were just that crowded back then. 

[Faulkner]

For me, that would have been fine. I’ve never loved junior awards. Let the kids work their way up as daytime veterans and earn it. They were getting enough praise and coverage. But I totally think, for example, Kimberly McCullough would have been recognized for Robin’s HIV story. In primetime, arguably more crowded than daytime, you’d have young breakthroughs like Fred Savage, Keshia Knight-Pulliam, and Claire Danes at the Emmys. 

It’s all moot since it’s water under the bridge, but we especially don’t need these categories now.

[kalbir]

In the entire history of the Younger Actor/Actress categories, I counted 3 winners before age 13: Justin Gocke (1989), Kimberly McCullough (1989), Camryn Grimes (2000); and 8 winners after age 13 but before age 20: Brian Bloom (1985), Martha Byrne (1987), Andrew Kavovit (1990), Heather Tom (1993), Jonathan Jackson (1995, 1998, 1999), Sarah Michelle Gellar (1995),  Kimberly McCullough (1996), Justin Torkilsden (2001). So 10 out of 53 Younger Actor/Actress winners were kids/teens at the time of their wins. That leads me to think that the Younger Actor/Actress categories were added so the newcomers wouldn't overshadow the veterans.

Edited June 7, 2020 by kalbir

[Faulkner]

Billions star Asia Kate Dillon, who identifies as nonbinary, is petitioning the Screen Actors Guild to have gendered categories abolished at the annual SAG Awards. If this indeed happens, I can imagine a push for other awards to do this. (The Grammys and the various MTV Awards already did this.)

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/asia-kate-dillon-billions-sag-awards-open-letter-1234630871/

 

A quote:

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Faulkner

[David_Vickers]

Stupid!  Submit in male or female.  This causes some deserving people to not get nominated and /or win.

[Faulkner]

SAG has responded to Asia Kate Dillon, signaling that they intend to keep male/female categories as is. I think one reason is that they consider themselves a bellwether for the Oscars and won’t make any changes until the Academy does.